Sustainable Development

 

Sustainable Development 

  

Introduction:-

Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while simultaneously sustaining the ability of natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depends. The main aim is to create a society where the needs of present generation are met without compromising the needs of future generation.

After the Brundtland report in 1986, sustainable development has taken a turn. Since then is has been shifting towards economic development. It is argued that Brundtland report was a mere business strategy for world development.

The concept of sustainable development has been and still a subject to criticism for it never answers the question what is to be preserved under this notion and what not. Critics argue that there is nothing like sustainable use of non renewable resources since any positive rate of exploitation will eventually lead to exhaustion of Earth’s finite stock. 

Brundtland Report:-

Our common future, also known as the Brundtland report was published on October through the Oxford University Press. Its target was to develop the interdependence of nations to find the path of sustainable development. Our common future placed environmental issues firmly on the political agenda. It aimed at discussing environment and development as one single issue. It emphasized on issues like poverty reduction and wealth redistribution because the Brundtland report claimed that poverty reduces sustainability and increases pressure on environment.

Dimensions of Sustainable Development:-

Sustainable development can be divided into three major spheres, dimensions or domains i.e. environmental, political and economic. Some authors have expanded its scope and added a fourth pillar i.e. cultural. There is an intersection between all these pillars and this intersection makes a society sustainable.

ENVIRONMENTAL:-

The environmental or ecological stability refers to the relationship between the humans and their social, natural and built environment. The main idea behind ecological stability is to utilize the natural resources in such a way that they fulfill our needs and at the same time it doesn’t stress their availability. Broadly, this term includes the domain of human health i.e. every human should be provided with the resources in such a way that they don’t put a question mark on their health e.g.:- clean drinking water, fresh air etc.

Unsustainablity occurs when rate of usage of resources is higher than nature’s ability to replenish them. So the main goal is to limit the use of non renewable able resources and using them in such a way that nature has a fair time period to replenish them. This is what ecological sustainability is. In this wake, a shift from non renewable to renewable resources has been observed in recent years. E.g.:- Solar energy, a renewable and continuous sources of energy is being used by installing solar panels.

ECONOMIC:-

Economic sustainable development traditionally meant economic development in terms of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). However this term has now been broadened and encompasses ecological environmental development i.e. the environmental resources should not be compromised for economic development. More simply, it could be explained as such a state of economic development where the resources are saved for the future generation and economic development occurs side by side. Many modern economists express their concern about environment in their reports and writings.

Sustainability in economic terms stands on three pillars- inter-linkage, inter generational equity and dynamic efficiency.

A Meta review in 2002 considered researching about environmental and economic valuations and found out that there is a lack of sustainability policies. Various studies were taken after this Meta review. A study in 2004 asked if we consumed too much. To its response a study in 2007 found that knowledge manufactured and human capital could not compensate to what has been degraded in most parts of the world.

Inter generational equity: - It is a concept of fairness or justice between the generations.

Dynamic efficiency: - In economics dynamic efficiency is situation where it is impossible to make one generation better off without making the other worse off. 

POLITICAL:-

The United Nations Global Concept Cities Programme has broadened the definition of political sustainable development in such a way that it not only pertains to state and governance but organisation, authoritarianism, legitimation and regulation of a social life held in common. This definition conveys that political policies and changes are important for responding to economic, ecological and cultural changes. Seven sub domains are listed under domain of politics. These are:-

1)    Organization and governance

2)    Law and justice

3)    Communication and critique

4)    Representation and negotiation

5)    Security and accord

6)    Dialogue and reconciliation

7)    Ethics and accountability.

CULTURAL/SOCIAL:-

Advocates of sustainable development have introduced a new and fourth dimension of sustainable development i.e. culture. They were of the view that the existing three dimensions; ecological, economic and social/political are not enough to reflect the current complex society. In this context, Agenda 21 for culture and the United Cities and Local Governments published a policy statement “Culture: fourth pillar of sustainable development” at 2010 World Congress of UCLG. This document presents the need to link culture with sustainable development through formulating strong cultural policies. The fourth pillar of sustainable development theory has been referenced by executive director of IMI institute at UNESCO and was inspired by Our Common Future.

CULTURAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS:-

There are various frameworks among marginalized sections of society that support sustainable development. This includes open dialogues and debates and a holistic view of the development. Working in marginalized societies on sustainable development always focuses on cultural factors and local factors because these people are closely connected to their culture and slightest of change directly impact their lives. Collaborators use co-designing feature so that the community and collaborator, both can understand each other’s thought process and comprehension. Needs of the community are considered and final decisions are implementations are made with respect to socio-cultural and ecological factors.

How is sustainability measured?

We read, hear and talk of sustainable development more often these days since there is a need to manage and conserve resources, but have we ever thought if sustainable development actually happens or is it alive in UN reports only? One way to answer this question would be to measure sustainable development.

In 2007 report published for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stated that sustainability has taken all the hype in recent years but none of the systems clearly tell us whether the society is sustainable. We’re told that we are heading towards wrong direction and the problems are presented before us but little do we know about the origin of these problems and nothing about how to solve them.

It makes me perturbed to know that we have less than 9 years to achieve agenda 2030 that embraces 18 sustainable development goals with 169 associated targets to which we have no road map to. And to my astonishment we don’t even have a well defined method to measure how far we have reached in the race of sustainable development. Measuring progress is thus all about finding the right indicators that cover important elements of human well being and environmental quality. These indicators include GDP. It is common to think that GDP only measures economic development and includes activities that may actually be damaging from a sustainability point of view. However there have been instances when sustainability has resulted in increase in GDP, for e.g. cleanup of oil spills in Gulf of Mexico. Other well established indicators include HDI (Human Development Index) reports that cover health, inequality and educational issues.

Conclusion:-

Common wisdom says “what is measured can be managed” and a broad view on sustainability and its dimensions concludes that sustainability is all about management. Resources managed are resources preserved. So we need a broader method that measures dimensions of sustainable development individually as well as jointly. Also there should be more dialogues and debates held on ‘how sustainability is to be achieved’. Such discussions should be carried out from global to local level and youth should be part of it specifically. This would help spread awareness among the generation and more effective and efficient solutions ought to come up.